Basil of Caesarea

For this very reason, a certain one of the interpreters seems to me to have handed over beautifully and accurately the same thought through another title, saying, “For the lilies,” in place of, “For them that shall be changed.” He thought that it was appropriate to compare the transitoriness of human nature with the early death of flowers. But, since this word has been inflected in the future tense (it is said: “For them that shall be changed,” as if at some time later this change will be shown to us), let us consider whether there is suggested to us the doctrine of the resurrection, in which a change will be granted to us, but a change for something better and something spiritual. “What is sown in corruption,” he says, “rises in incorruption.” Do you see the change? “What is sown in weakness rises in power; what is sown a natural body rises a spiritual body,” when every corporeal creature will change together with us. Also, “The heavens shall grow old like a garment, and as a robe” God “shall change them, and they shall be changed.” Then, according to Isaiah, “The sun will be sevenfold, and the moon like the present size of the sun.”

But, if we must go on with our discussion and make a deeper study, let us, from this point, contemplate especially the divine power of the Holy Spirit. We find three creations mentioned in the Scripture; the first, the bringing forth from nonexistence into existence; the second, the change from worse to better; and the third, the resurrection of the dead. In these you will find the Holy Spirit co-operating with the Father and the Son. Take, for instance, the calling into existence of the heavens. And what does David say? “By the word of the Lord the heavens were established, and all their power by the spirit of his mouth.” Now, humankind is created a second time through baptism, “for if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature.” And what does the Savior say to the disciples? “Go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” You see here, also, the Holy Spirit present with the Father and the Son. But what would you say concerning the resurrection of the dead, when we shall have departed and returned into our dust, “for we are dust and to dust we shall return”? “And he will send forth the Holy Spirit, and he will create us, and he shall renew the face of the earth.” For what Paul spoke of as the resurrection, David called renewal.

“Because he has inclined his ear to me.” “He inclined,” he said, not that you might take some corporeal notion about God having ears and inclining them to a gentle voice, as we do, putting our ear close to those who speak low, so that by the nearness we may perceive what is said. But he said, “he inclined,” in order that he might point out to us his own weakness. Because through kindness God came down to me while I was lying on the ground, as if, when some sick person is not able to speak clearly because of his great weakness, a kind physician, bringing his ear close, should learn through the nearness what was necessary for the sick person. Therefore, “He has inclined his ear to me.” The divine ear, indeed, does not need a voice for perception; it knows how to recognize in the movements of the heart what is sought. Or, do you not hear how Moses, although he said nothing but met the Lord with his inexpressible groanings, was heard by the Lord, who said, “Why do you cry to me?” God knows how to hear even the blood of a just person, to which no tongue is attached and of which no voice pierces the air. The presence of good works is a loud voice before God.“And in my days I will call on him.” If we have prayed on one day, or if in one hour for a brief time we were saddened by our sins, we are carefree as if we had already made some compensation for our wickedness. However, the holy person says that he is disclosing his confession, which is measured by the whole time of his life, for he says, “In all my days I will call on him.” Then, in order that you may not think that he called on God because he was fortunate in this life and because all his affairs were successful, he describes in detail the magnitude and difficulty of the circumstances in which, when he was involved, he did not forget the name of God.

“The sorrows of death,” he says, “have compassed me; and the perils of hell have found me.” Properly the sorrows of death have been agreed on as the pains of childbirth, when the womb, distended with its burden, thrusts out the fetus; then, the generative parts, being compressed and stretched around the fetus by spasms and contractions of the muscles, produce in the mothers the sharpest pains and most bitter pangs. He transferred the name of these pains to those that besiege the animal in the division of soul and body at death. He says that he has suffered nothing moderately but that he has been tried even to the sorrows of death and has arrived at the peril of the descent into hell. Now, did he endure only these things for which he is exalted, or did he endure these things frequently and unwillingly? Nothing that is forced is praiseworthy. But, look at the nobility of nature of the athlete. When the sorrows of death compassed me and the perils of hell found me, I was so far from succumbing to these trials that I willingly proposed to myself even much greater trials than these. Trouble and sorrow, I, as it were, willingly devised for myself; I was not unwillingly seized by them.Indeed, in the preceding words we read, “The perils of hell have found me,” but here, “I met with trouble and sorrow.” For, since I was found to be unyielding there in regard to what was brought on by the tempter, in order that I might show the abundance of my love toward God, I added trouble to trouble and sorrow to sorrow, and I did not rise up against these sufferings by my own power, but I called upon the name of the Lord. Such is also the declaration of the apostle, who says, “But in all these things we overcome because of him who has loved us.” For he conquers who does not yield to those who lead on by force, but he is more than conqueror, who voluntarily invites sorrows for a demonstration of his endurance. Let him who was in some sin to death say, “The sorrows of death have compassed me.” “For everyone,” he says, “who commits sin has been born of the devil.” Now, when I, he says, committed sin and was pregnant by death, then also I was found by the perils of hell. How, then, did I cure myself? Because I devised trouble and sorrow through penance. I contrived for myself a suffering of penance proportionate to the greatness of the sin, and thus I dared to call on the name of the Lord. But, what was it that I said? “O Lord, deliver my soul.” I am held in this captivity, so you give ransom for me and deliver my soul.

“I have loved,” the psalmist says, “because the Lord will hear the voice of my prayer.” It is not in the power of everyone to say “I have loved,” but of him who is already perfect and beyond the fear of slavery and who has been formed in the spirit of adoption as children. He does not add to “I have loved” the word someone, but we supply in thought “the God of the universe.” For, that which is properly beloved is God, since they define “beloved” as that at which all things aim. Now, God is a good and the first and most perfect of good things. Therefore, I have loved God, who is the highest of objects to be desired, and I have received with joy sufferings for his sake. What these things are, the psalmist goes through in detail a little later—the pangs of death, the dangers of hell, the affliction, the pain, all things whatsoever that are desirable to him because of the love of God—and he demonstrates the hope that was stored up for those who receive sufferings because of their devoutness. For I did not endure the contests, he says, contrary to my will or by force or constraint, but I accepted the sufferings with a certain love and affection, so that I was able to say, “Because for your sake we are killed all the day long.” And these words seem to have equal weight with the words of the apostle and to be spoken by him with the same feeling: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or hunger, or nakedness, or danger or the sword?” Therefore, I have loved all these things, knowing that I endure the dangers for the sake of piety under the hands of the Lord of the universe who sees and bestows the reward. “Because the Lord will hear the voice of my prayer.” So, each one of us is able to perform the difficult tasks enjoined by the commandments whenever he displays his conduct of life to the God of the universe as if to a spectator.

“The Lord is the keeper of little ones; I was humbled, and he delivered me.” According to natural reason human nature would not stand unless the little ones and those still infants were kept by the Lord. For, unless it was preserved by the custody of God, how could the fetus in the mother be nourished or moved while it was in such narrow spaces, with no room for turning, and while it lived in dark and moist places, unable to take a breath or to live the life of people, but, on the contrary, was borne around in liquids like the fish? And how would it last even for a short time after it had come out into this unaccustomed place and, lacking the warmth within the mother, had become chilled all over by the air, unless it was preserved by God? Therefore, “the Lord is the keeper of little ones; I was humbled, and he delivered me.” Or, you may understand these words thus. When I was turned and became as a little child and received the kingdom of heaven as a child and through innocence brought myself down to the humility of children, “the Lord, the keeper of little ones,” since I was humbled, “delivered me.”

“The Lord is merciful and just.” Everywhere Scripture joins justice with the mercy of God, teaching us that neither the mercy of God is without judgment nor his judgment without mercy. Even while he pities, he measures out his mercies judiciously to the worthy; and while judging, he brings forth the judgment, having regard to our weakness, repaying us with kindness rather than with equal reciprocal measurement.“And our God shows mercy.” Mercy is an emotion experienced toward those who have been reduced beyond their desert and that arises in those sympathetically disposed. We pity the person who has fallen from great riches into the uttermost poverty, one who has been overthrown from the peak of vigor of body to extreme weakness, one who gloried in the beauty and grace of body and who has been destroyed by most shameful passions. Though we at one time were held in glory, living in paradise, yet we have become inglorious and humble because of our banishment; “our God shows mercy,” seeing what sort of people we have become from what we were. For this reason he summoned Adam with a voice of mercy, saying, “Adam, where are you?” He who knows all things was not seeking to be informed, but he wished to perceive what sort Adam had become from what he had been. “Where are you?” instead of “to what sort of a ruin have you descended from so great a height?”

“For he has delivered my soul from death: my eyes from tears, my feet from falling.” He describes the future rest by a comparison with things here. Here, he says, the sorrows of death have compassed me, but there he has delivered my soul from death. Here the eyes pour forth tears because of trouble, but there, no longer is there a tear to darken the eyes of those who are rejoicing in the contemplation of the beauty of the glory of God. “For God has wiped away every tear from every face.” Here there is much danger of a fall; wherefore, even Paul said, “Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” But there the steps are firm; life is immutable. No longer is there the danger of slipping into sin. For there is neither rebellion of the flesh nor cooperation of a woman in sin. Therefore, there is no male and female in the resurrection, but there is one certain life, and it is of one kind, since those dwelling in the country of the living are pleasing to their Lord. This world itself is mortal and is the place of mortals. Since the substance of visible things is composite and every composite thing is apt to be destroyed, we who are in the world, being part of the world, necessarily possess the nature of everything. Therefore, even before the soul is separated from the body by death, we people frequently die.

He further commanded them, “Going, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” I think that we must by faith grasp and understand each of these words and speak, according as words are granted us in answer to the prayers of all, at the opening of our mouth. It is written, “If you do not believe, you shall not understand,” and also, “I have believed, therefore have I spoken.” Now, I am of the opinion that the nouns and verbs and the content of the holy Scriptures do not have as regards God and his Christ or the holy prophets and evangelists and apostles the simple and conventional understanding of them. On the contrary, we should examine the words and content under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and with a pious intention, not all together but by parts, according as each may contribute to the exposition of sound doctrine. We should reflect on them devoutly and direct our thoughts to a consideration of the rules and teachings of the devout life. It is most important that we be observant and attentive to every word and choose the sense that is in keeping with our heavenly calling. This we shall accomplish if, through the prayers of all, Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, strengthen us, so that the words of the apostle may be realized in us: “I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me.”

We attribute to God, as it were, every state that corresponds to our circumstances. For this reason, when we are half asleep and behaving slothfully, God, since he judges us unworthy of his observant watchfulness over us, is said to be asleep. But, when, after noticing at some time the harm that comes from his sleeping, we shall say, “Arise, why do you sleep, O Lord?” “Behold, he shall neither slumber nor sleep at that time, that keeps Israel.” Some others, as it were, turn their eyes away from God because of their shameful deeds and their acts unworthy of the eyes of God. These, on repenting, say, “Why do you turn your face away?” Besides these, there are others who have cast out the memory of God and, as it were, are producing in him forgetfulness of themselves, and these say, “Why do you forget our want and our trouble?” In a word, people do the very things that are humanly spoken about God, making God behave in ways appropriate to the manner in which they have been made. Therefore, “I will extol you, O Lord, for you have upheld me; and you have not made my enemies to rejoice over me.” And I will suffer nothing low or abject in my life.

God is good, but he is also just, and it is the nature of the just to reward in proportion to merit, as it is written: “Do good, O Lord, to those that are good and to the upright of heart. But such as turn aside to their own crooked ways, the Lord shall lead out with the workers of iniquity.” He is merciful, but he is also a judge, for “the Lord loves mercy and judgment,” says the psalmist. And he therefore also says, “Mercy and judgment I will sing to you, O Lord.” We have been taught who they are on whom he has mercy: “Blessed are the merciful,” says the Lord, “for they shall obtain mercy.” You see with what discernment he bestows mercy, neither being merciful without judgment nor judging without mercy, for “the Lord is merciful and just.” Let us not, therefore, know God by halves or make his loving-kindness an excuse for our indolence; for this, his thunders, for this, his lightnings—that his goodness may not be held in dispute. He who causes the sun to rise also strikes people with blindness. He who sends the rain also causes the rain of fire. By the one he manifests his goodness; by the other, his severity. For the one let us love him, for the other let us fear, that it may not be said also to us, “Or do you despise the riches of his goodness and patience and longsuffering? Do you not know that the kindness of God leads you to penance? But according to your hardness and impenitent heart, you store up for yourself wrath against the day of wrath.”